This post was actually going to be a bonus ebook for a product I was going to release earlier in the year. But instead, I decided to turn it into a blog post. The fitness lifestyle is all about turning what we do into a habit. That’s how you stick to it long term. And the habit builders below will help you do just that.

1) Get your recovery periods in check @ food ‘The Big 3’ (meals)

You already know what that is. But if there is one aspect of your training that you need to learn to get right, it’s this

A. The types of proteins and carbs you consume
B. The time of day you decide to train

if you plan on training in the morning then its a good idea to get into the habit of eating your 3rd of ‘The Big 3’ a little later than usual. This is because that will be the meal your body feeds off for that morning workout. Eating late has also proven to be an effective strategy for increasing muscle mass and promoting fat loss. Which is of course the ultimate goal when building the shred with bulk physique. And it is because of this meal why you wont really need to eat a big breakfast.

Why?

Well lets look at the realism of the situation.

Now, ‘The Big 3’ is all about meal portion size over meal frequency. It’s just a more realistic way to eat and structure your day. Heck, the majority of us were taught to eat this way anyway. And even then, most of us wouldn’t even keep up with that, even when we weren’t fitness meat heads. So while lack of extra nutrition may have previously been your concern, it really doesn’t need to be, because all you are doing now compared to what you wasn’t doing before, is just doing what you were supposed to be doing in the first place. eating ‘The Big 3’ (That’s whether you are bulking as a hard-struggler or shredding as a skinny fat)

But again, lets look at the logistics behind that.

Now, we all know about carbs, proteins fats and that they aren’t all equal, in terms of the foods we need to consume in bodybuilding nutrition.

With that being the case, can you see how and why the 3rd ‘Big 3’ meal will act as ‘In The Zone nutrition’ for your morning workout. Of course you can.

1st – You will get plenty of rest from sleeping a max of 8 hours (growth time)

2nd – You will have snacked on so many extra macronutrients in that big 3rd meal as well as 100 grams of protein or so (regardless of the type, although solid slow digesting is recommended) that the digestion period of all that protein and carbs would have been largely slowed. Which means your ultimate pre workout meal worry has been cured.

Which is..

What if i don’t have have enough protein and carbs in my system to get me through the workout?

Seriously, that 3rd Big 3 meal will stack your body so well that you shouldn’t wake up hungry. (An emphasis of slow digesting proteins does indeed help and make a difference)

But cant the body only handle a certain amount of protein consumption in one sitting?

That really has nothing to do with it. If you eat more protein in one sitting, it just means it takes longer to digest into your system. Its all about portion size. You were raised that way I’m sure. Why should that change now that your in fitness. The only thing that changes is

1) Food recovery periods
2) Types of foods that you consume in the red zone

That’s it. And if you train the ‘In The Zone – Train insane way’, trust me… you will get plenty of sleep and rest, which is of course when you grow.

The only concern here is that when you wake up, you may feel a bit peckish. Most of this is your brain and tastes buds getting at you. Which is fine. At this point just snack on a high protein snack. It never hurts to get some quick protein in before a workout for an energy boost. But in terms of what your body needs in order to build the shred with bulk physique… you gave it all of that the night before on your 3rd meal of ‘The Big 3’.

2) Prevent sickness

Wear layers

Sickness is 2nd to injury in the race to what will kill your muscle building endeavors and fitness motivation. The natural way to prevent sickness is to…

– Eat well.
– Sleep well
– Next, is to take supplements
– Hygiene in the gym

Wear layers in winter

All of these are pretty common ground, in the goal to prevent sickness. But I’m pretty certain that many of you don’t follow through with all of them. And if you want to find long term success with any of the Stay Fit Bug workouts (Year long workout broken down into 4 periods), then you better just start doing that. Because I can tell you now. Sickness will knock you for 6 when it comes to maintaining that shred with bulk physique you worked so hard to build. You’ll lose your appetite, you won’t be able to get out of bed and worst of all, you won’t be able to workout. If you do, you’ll only be adding fuel to the sickness fire, as well as putting everyone else in the gym at risk of picking up your nasty germs. Yuck.

Eating well

This is a no brainer. Just follow the In The Zone nutrition plan to perfection and you’ll get all the correct nutrition needed in order to help prevent you from catching the flu or any other related sickness.

Sickness detection solutions

Avoid crap food

When you are sick, the first thing you will start to think about is eating more food in order to…

1) Maintain your gains (More protein in this case – more on that later
2) Help you get over the flu

So good thinking. That’s the right mind set to have. But what you need to be avoiding is crappy foods such as cookies, hot chocolate and ice cream. Those will just make your shred with bulk results disappear. Banishing you back to the land of the ordinary gym goer. Something you definitely don’t want. So avoid them like the plague.

What you can do

Like I mentioned earlier, stick to the meal plans over at In The Zone Nutrition on the spreadsheets. In short.

The Big 3 +EFA’s + 1.5 grams protein per pound of lean body weight.

The decrease in calories should account for that extra time you find yourself in doors knocked out on the bed from sickness.

The drop in the amount of carbs you consume is due to you being out of training and because of the drop in calories.

The higher protein in take is of course related to balance out catabolism rates while you are in your sick state. And of course to keep a positive nitrogen balance. The food sources you should consume here should of course be lower in carbohydrates. In fact, you’ll need foods to be low in simple fast digesting carbs too (cottage cheese,omelets or other fast digesting proteins – refer to the guide to necessary supplementation)

Why?

Because a sick body is not in a good state to ingest these type of carbs (Which we know are best consumed pre-post workout).

So unless you’re on a morning in the zone workout, consume slow digesting carbs early on in the day. When you awake is the time when your body is in a positive state of glycogen storing.

And if you were wondering what the importance of consuming 1 fish oil in each of the big 3 meals, then this is it.

We know that EFAS play a vital role in improving the function of immune cells in our bodies. And when you are sick your body will start forming new cells in order to fight off the sickness (Hence the importance of good structured nutrition). With this being the case, it’s important to get those EFAS in (omega-3) To ensure your body fights off the flu effectively.

Basically follow ‘In the zone’ nutrition as it stands. Nothing extra needs to be consumed there in the case of sickness

Drink water

Why?

1) Because the body is made up of 70% water
2) Because we lose water, even more so when we train insane.

– Through the build up and excretion of mucus
– Stationary breathing
– Sweat (Obviously we do plenty of this in training. But if you ever suffer from a fever or flu, trust me, you will sweat)
– The bodies extra work in creating new cells and fighting off the sickness
– Higher protein intake

The importance of staying hydrated when we workout is high enough as it is. All the extra factors listed above raise those stakes even higher. And trust me, when you are sick, you will feel the need for the extra H2O consumption.

Sleep well

I wrote a pretty detail post back on stayfitbug.com about the importance of getting enough sleep throughout your lifestyle of fitness and bodybuilding.

The best thing you can do is sleep and nap the flu off. Stick to the usual 8-10 hours that I speak of in the article. And try to nod of a few times during the day too. The more rest you get, the better you will feel each waking morning during the sick period.

Taking supplements

There are a lot of positive and negative discussions when it comes to bodybuilding supplements

A) Supplements aren’t needed. You can get all the nutrition you need from natural food sources in order to build muscle. (True). Big supplement companies are just pure evil, unnecessarily robbing from the pure to feed their own riches. (Which is why we created the guide to ‘necessary’ supplementation).

B) As a bodybuilder, our bodies are put through extra stress than your non gym goer. There fore, the body needs to be supplemented extra in order to grow effectively…. And to avoid sickness

Both arguments are true. Point A is fully covered in In the zone nutrition and which supplements are needed and when to take them is fully described.

Point B holds true to. But all one really needs to do is…

– Eat well
– Sleep well
– Focus on gym hygiene

And most worries about extra body stress are put at ease.

What you really need to take note of in point B is the last part…

And to avoid sickness

If you intend to live the fitness lifestyle and make it a year 5-10 year stretch. Then your best option is to take a long term approach in regards to the extra supplements and vitamins you need to take. Building a strong foundation is paramount in any long term plan to prepare for a ‘brighter’ future) (House building being the usual cliche here).

With that said. It is indeed important to focus on taking extra vitamins and supplements in the case of preventing future sickness (More so extra vitamins).

3) Cheat meals moments (the evening meal)

It’s time to talk about real life.

Now, as this is real life, and not just some robotic program to turn you into a living terminator (Now head of Cali – what has the world come to). The chances are that you will probably have some real friends. And unless you have just come out of a relationship, chances are you probably have a special someone in your life.. or at least have your eye on someone. If so, how would you think they feel about you becoming some robotic drone that lifts weights all day. As a male, I can tell you now. She will not appreciate. Yes, she doesn’t want a skinny man, fair enough. But she definitely doesn’t want some one who puts working out before her. However as a woman, she’ll be into fitness too, as it’s a natural way of healthy living and also prevents hair loss in women.

Any how, as we are on the habit builder and as we are talking about nutrition under this sub heading. One thing you could start to get used to is to go out every week with your partner.

Specifically.. go out for a meal, to a restaurant of your personal choice. It really has nothing to do with bodybuilding nutrition. Go out to go out and enjoy yourself.

How to gauge it?

Now, it would be very bad of me to tell you to just gauge down cheat meals freely. But the core rule that stands is that you should stick to a in the zone nutrition plan at least 80-90% of the time.

– 28-30 meals per week

– 6 cheat meals max per month

Meaning you are eating clean 80-90% of the time in a 4 week period.

Meaning that you should make it a habit to go out and eat what the hell you like at least once a week, a night out, with your partner. Which is actually healthy for both your sanity and for maintaining a healthy relationship. Seeing as the no.1 relationship killer is a break down in communication.

What makes it an even better habit to get used to?

If you have picked any of our programs/ebooks, the chances are that you are probably either a very busy (possibly cash strapped student) or a busy professional. In either case, time is against you. Even if it isn’t, I know that going out 4 times a month with your partner is still probably a rarity (unless you are going through that honeymoon period). With that being the case, this one habit could therefore enhance your relationship and save it at the same time, from preventing you from becoming a robot gym bore who does nothing but lift and eat for the gym ONLY.

P.S

We also recently bundled all of our ebooks into one package. So feel free to check it out below

If you are past your teen years, it is very likely that you have suffered a heart break or two. If so, then you will know how sh*t you will feel afterwards, especially if you were the one that got dumped. That will often lead you to feel empty inside, lead you to over eat, not take care of your self and curl up into a corner and cry.

However, things aren’t so bad in the world of fitness and bodybuilding. Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned pro in the gym, here are some ways that body building will help you get over that b***t of a girlfriend/ boyfriend.

Confidence
Countries like the USA are built on confidence and confidence is a trait of most successful people. If you are succeeding in the gym, then confidence will likely be one of your traits too.

Yes, you will naturally feel down about the relationship break up, but being a confident bodybuilder will help you get over that pretty quickly because fitness and confidence together will naturally make you feel good about yourself. If you are feeling good about yourself most of the time, then you won’t be spending much time worrying about why ‘Mr/Miss damaged goods’ broke up with you. But what you will start to think is,

‘Is that person stupid…? Breaking up with ME!!’

And soon enough they may just start calling you back. Too late for that, you’ve moved on.

Be Social

As I mentioned back in ‘Finding love at the gym‘, the gym is one of the top places where you’ll find love. If not that, then you definitely find yourself many date potentials. The more you see and interact with those individuals, the sooner you’ll forget about that a*hole of a boyfriend/ girlfriend and wonder why you was with them in the first place.

This is cliché, but when one door closes, it leaves room for another to open, so speed up that process and be social.

Get Your Mind Active

As a stayfitbug.com reader, you’ll know by now how much I push to be dedicated and disciplined to get your body to be where you need it to be. One key part of being disciplined in bodybuilding is to learn how to control your diet. So that means cutting back on certain foods and not submitting to temptation, which will require you to keep your mind active on something other than the prior.

This mind set of cutting something out of your life is what you will need to do with your ‘Now X Partner’. Yes… you will already be on the right track from being confident and social, but to add to that, get rid of reminders of them.

Get rid of their:-

Clothes

Phone Numbers

Smell in your house

Everything! You’ve now moved on

Goals

I have talked about the personal trait of being goal driven before, and I always will, as you often need to be reminded of what your goals are. As a bodybuilder, a goal driven mind set is what you’ll need to have to succeed, and when you do begin to focus on this mind set, you will not want to waste time on things you cannot change. Shit will happen, and when it does, you learn to let go of the past and move on.

This is the mindset that will help you forget about your X partner all so easily.

If you haven’t had your heart broken yet, I can guarantee that it will happen sometime in your future. But instead of becoming a victim of the inevitable (Curling up into a corner and crying) you will spend more time in the gym following the guidance listed above.

When you do move on and become a better new and improved person, just know that you will be getting phone calls from the ‘X’. What happens at that moment is up to you.

If you are an ectomorph by nature and you happen to workout to build muscle, then you won’t need to tell me that you have struggled to build a sufficient amount of muscle on your skinny frame, I already know… I started of that way.

You’ve probably felt very envious against all of those short guys who simply sneeze and put on muscle (Bastards!). And at that point you probably tried to work harder than your short guy mesomorph counterparts. But working harder is not always the best solution. You will probably increase the amount of days that you workout. But doing so may lead to overtraining, which in turn may lead to injury and a decrease in muscle growth, which is what you don’t want.

There are many challenges that us ectomorph body types will face during our weightlifting workouts, but to solve them all in one article would just bore you. So to begin, we’ll focus on how to deal with overtraining.

Don’t follow the leader

This is what I told you a couple of weeks back and the same rule applies here. You will meet many individuals who have built themselves an amazing body… good on them. But they have found a workout routine that works for THEM. You need to find a workout routine that works for YOU and your ectomporph body type. A workout routine that takes advantage of an over trained body or even overcomes those dreaded weightlifting plateaus. (A workout routine I may just plan out for you). So follow your own needs and no one else’s.

Let your muscles recover

It’s very easy to become a gym addict, and it is a very nice to watch your muscles get ‘pumped’ while you workout. But eliminate that short-term vision already. Your muscles will not build while you are ripping them apart, no matter how ‘pumped’ you look at the time. It might seem like a ‘no brainer’, but structure your workout days like,

Mon, Wed, Fri

And not like

Mon, Tues, Thurs

Always leaving a day in-between allowing your muscles to recover and grow properly. Unfortunately, some people still do not follow this simple rule. Don’t let that be you.

Train with less time

It amazes me how many people get this wrong. If you have an ectomorph body type, or are working out to build muscle, then you need to be training with less time in your workouts with an increased intensity. That is:

Less than 60 minutes

45 minutes (35 minutes intense)

Why?

If you train for more than 45 minutes, then the response rate of your anabolic hormones will drop. This will cause you to lose energy and you’ll start burning muscle instead of building it, because your body will be looking for those energy stores and there will be nothing there.

Working out with a high intensity and shorter periods will also give you better gains, help your muscles recover much quicker and stop you from over training.

Know when to stop

I’ve faced this scenario many times. It’s actually a lot harder to do when you are ‘in the zone’ as you simply don’t want to stop and are dedicated to building your muscles up. But the fact is, there will be a point when your body will feel knackered, and it won’t be like a weightlifting plateau either. It’s that tiredness you feel when your body is simply telling you to STOP! If you don’t want to listen to the warning signs… that’s fine. Just know that doing so could literally kill you, as at this point, you would have surpassed the point of overtraining.

So do yourself a favour and STOP!

Solution

Take a whole week off from training (I’ve done this before). This will allow your body to fully recover and more importantly… allow your muscles to GROW.

Do sub failure training. What you do here is minus 2-3 repetitions of every exercise that you do. Do this for 2-3 weeks and then go back to normal training.

As I stated earlier, there are many more answers for how you can overcome the challenges that a hard gainer faces, but stay tuned in and I will try to solve and answer as many as I can.

It’s time for another addition to your arsenal of home gym equipment. In previous posts (namely unique bodyweight exercises part 2) you would have seen the exercise ball being used a few times for exercises such as crunches. There are other exercises you will be using this ball for such as side bends and leg presses, but the abdominals will be the key body part that you will work on the most with the exercise ball.

Since this site has been up, it has been made aware to me that the abs are the no.1 area that most of you want to train, whether you are trying to lose fat to get it to show, or are simply trying to get the the ripped ‘ I’ve eaten a radiator’ look.

Some of you have complained about lower back problems too, from doing normal floor sit ups. Using the Xercise ball will solve that problem as performing the same or similar exercises with the ball will give you a greater range of motion (how far you can stretch). If you are lost when it comes to knowing how to perform the exercises you have seen so far, then hold tight, that will be included in the ebook as well.

So for those who don’t yet have one of these, or are intending to get one since viewing the bodyweight exercises posts, this is the one I’ve been using.

(Note: If you are a pretty big guy, say 5’10” plus, you’ll want to go for the biggest ball at 75cm)

Only a couple of more bodyweight exercise accessories to go, but for now, go and have a ball.

In recent weeks I’ve presented various ways in which you can go about exploding muscles to look like this guy,

Well, you probably won’t get as big as him… he is a super hero after all. However, before you even decide on trying to take your muscles to the next level, you will have to put some things in place before doing so. You will need to prepare!

Fail to plan… then plan to fail.

Cliche yes! But the fact still remains.

That is why I’m going to start you on a journey of how you can prepare for the exercise techniques that you have become aware of in recent weeks. Somethings you may already be doing, somethings you may not. What ever the case is, I’m going to set some guidelines for you to follow. You can fill in your own gaps.

Protect Your Hands

Prevent Calluses

Unless you want to be Mr crocodile hands, then you will take the time out to protect your hands. It’s not cool to shake peoples hands, while unintentionally yet unavoidably scaring them with yours. It’s not cool to stroke your hands over your girlfriends smooth skinned body, that she has taken time to perfect just to feel your crocodile roughness. But more importantly it is not cool bash your hands up.

Why?

Doing so will

Decrease your ability to grip raw metal bars well

Decrease the number of reps that you can perform

Give you calluses and blisters

Cause unnecessary pain

Once you suffer from all of the above, there is no way that you can take your bodybuilding to the next level. Shock body exercises simply will not work for you.

Some guys may act all macho and act like this doesn’t affect them. I say F**k ’em. Don’t follow those leaders. Whether you are a human brick or a budding hard gainer success story, your aim should be to maintain baby smooth Fairy Liquid hands.

How To Protect Your Hands

Sponges

If you are on a budget then this is the way to go to protect your hands.

Grab two thick rubber bands

Two thick sponges

Tie a sponge to each hand with the rubber band

And you are good to go

This is really a temporary solution, but if you do decide to do this for the long term for what ever reason, then I would suggest to stack up on the sponges. They’ll fade away to nothing in no time, especially after a few washes.

Gloves

I could have chosen any old pair of gloves, but from my own personal experiences, many of the gloves on the market are crap. You wear them, they tear apart easily and some don’t even help prevent callouses.

So I have chosen two pairs of gloves. Both have their pro’s and cons, but both are effective for their purpose.

Stayfitbug.com is now accepting purchasing of advertisements via in-content advertising (Advertising within the text content of articles on the site)
Our advertising is structured in the format of developing an advertising partnership with advertisers.

Example

”A fixed annual upfront fee for such advertisements”

– 6 months
– 12 months

The advert will be a text ad space. I do encourage advertisers to pursue with in-content advertising, as this is much more effective and provides great SEO benefits.

In The Zone ‘ Training insane’

In The Zone Training Insane = Workouts where you perform at your utmost intensity, explosive exercises, for only 25-35 minutes per workout.

Why?

Because that is when your muscles will positively react, talk back to you and REALLY grow.

Why not 1 hour + workouts?

A good muscle building program places a strong focus on the big 4 compound exercises. As it has been proven time and time again that these are the most effective exercises for overall gains in strength and size. Each workout only requires you to perform just 1 core compound exercise per workout plus assistant exercises (usually 2 or 3 extra exercises).

Why extra exercises if compound lifts work so well?

Strengthen weak areas of the body that compound exercises may miss

Help increase your performance of the 4 compound lifts e.g Barbell rows to help with bench press performance

Balance and symmetry

To build muscle (Dips, lateral raises being my personal favorites)

All of those performed at max ‘In the zone’ intensity will only take you max 40 minutes to perform in one workout. After that, you workout no more.

Why?

Because a lot of the growth you achieve with a good program will be a result of what you ‘don’t do in the gym.

This is where you may have previously been going wrong in your works. By doing too much. Causing you to plateau, get frustrated, become demotivated and in turn, quit your workouts. No growth. (boo hoo!).

Now, we do indeed have a ‘core’ program to follow here and as you will notice, there are exercises other than the big 4 that can benefit you. The program isn’t designed so that you train like a robot. No. The program is designed so that you do whats important (the big 4). And then do what is important to YOU. There are no right or wrong exercises.

If you feel and believe that dips is helping you build upper back strength and size, then keep on performing dips.

If you feel that bent over barbell rows are helping you increase your bench press performance, then keep on performing bent over barbell rows.

I personally like to regularly perform dips and lateral raises, because I know that I notice better trap/lats development. Which is of course a vital piece of the bodybuilding puzzle in terms of building that perfect ripped v shape physique with the bulk to match.

So don’t be afraid to experiment with the ‘after core’ exercises. Tweak and repeat.

Choose progression over fast bulk

Now, if you are a newbie weightlifter, it wont be an uncommon thing to pack on a ton of muscle mass within the first few weeks of this program. In fact, I’m 99% certain that you’ll gain 4-5 times more than the monthly goal of 3lbs increase in size per month.

But the common problem that arises is the dreaded plateau. You’ll hit those super gains within the first several weeks, but then it all changes.

The gains stop, you start experiencing jack shit gym days, your motivation levels drop (A natural thing… that this program will help you maintain) life happens. You just simply stop growing, which is of course the ultimate motivation killer. And is the reason why the average gym goer will look the same year in year out.

Now, the goal is of course to build a physique that makes you stand out from the crowd, so that you don’t look like the average gym goer. Shred with bulk! But the goal is also maintenance. But we also want to be progressing all of the time.

The first part of that solution is to focus on steady progression ‘over time’.

Lets start with the goal of shred + bulk when it comes to the goal of building a shredded physique with muscle mass to match. Now, the common way to get big fast would be to follow a bulking and cutting phase. There is nothing wrong with that. But that simply is not an ideal approach when it comes to building the shred + bulk physique, while living the fitness lifestyle. That approach is an end goal approach, which of course rings true for why bodybuilders train that way. Which is of course to prepare for bodybuilding contests. The program is not a contest and it certainly isn’t an end goal. Therefore, bulking and cutting approach is void.

The approach we take in terms of the actual shred with bulk program is to increase your gains steadily over time..

Why?

Avoid facing those dread dreads plateaus.

Actual progress year after year

Its entirely understandable why one would want overnight success and wanting to increase their bench weight by 30-40 pounds in a matter of a several weeks. But the long term result will be disappointing to say the least.

Remember this…

The gains stop, you start experiencing jack shit gym days, your motivation levels drop (A natural thing… that this program will help you maintain) life happens. You just simply stop growing, which is of curse the ultimate motivation killer. And is the reason why the average gym goer will look the same year in year out.

That is what will happen if you take the bulk approach.

Strength is relative to size

Now, it is because of this why its important to focus on steady progression along with what has been mentioned above. If you grow fast with ‘In The Zone’ nutrition, you’ll bulk up yes, but with the excessive fat, and you’ll look like the average gym goer. Learn to switch your mindset to increasing your weight from 220lbs to 225lbs before you try to lift 275lbs.

1) You’ll actually make real progress over time
2) You won’t plateau
3) You’ll actually get strong this way. Focus on ‘In the zone’ intensity yes, but without sacrificing good form, (Which I know is the no.1 killer of why most people quit working out due to injury).

The second part of that solution is how to stay motivated?

The way to stay motivated is by not treating what we do here as an end goal. But to treat it as a lifestyle. (You’ll learn a lot about how to do that with the habit builder). Motivation itself is driven from an outside inspiration. Something that you have seen or heard has motivated you to walk in to that gym and get the best bang for your buck. However, motivation will eventually die, so what you have to do is focus on the things that matter to you in life, so that you create your own inspiration (Again, much of what you’ll learn about in the habit builder). This is what will separate you from everyone else. Because you will now learn how to adapt the goal of shred with bulk to your everyday life, without it feeling like a means to an end.

Rest

– Stop training after 3 months
– Get more sleep and focus less on actual workouts – working out more is actually counter productive in terms of the goal.

Death of the hardgainer

Introducing – The hard struggler

And naturally, you will ask. What is a hard struggler?

A hard stuggler is some one who struggles to build muscle, not because of their genes. Not because they are natural ectomorphs. No.

A hard struggler is someone who struggles to build muscle because they have struggled to stick to a process of building muscle. In most cases, not following a good program.

Seriously, this concept relates to ANYTHING that you decide to put your mind to in order to achieve something greater. It could be anything from building a successful business, relationship.

If you are going around trying to blame your lack of muscle building gains on your genes, think again. Your genes only account for approx 10% of your inability to build superior muscle building gains. The other 90% is down to what you are ‘not’ doing, for reasons why you are still puny and un-shredded.Therefore, I today have eliminated the word hardgainer from the bodybuilding dictionary and re-labeled it with the word

HARD STRUGGLER

Hardgainers are just individuals that are simply under eating and NOT because of their natural physique or bad genetics.

This is the Fit Bug approach to building muscle. An approach where you actually enjoy the journey. If you want to know more about it, just enter your BEST email below to stay updated about the program and all things muscle building related.

Bodybuilding Resources

Ready to begin your journey for REAL bodybuilding success?

We all know how much it costs to hire a personal trainer! A personal trainer would be great for everyone to have, but unfortunately, not everyone has deep pockets like the rich and famous. Fortunately for you, you’ll be glad to know that you CAN build a body like those who can afford a personal trainer,

Without having to break the bank

And within the comfort of your own home

Below you will find product comparisons that I highly recommend to help you take your muscles to the next level. These are the products, which I have found to work best to take your muscles to the next level, all through trial and error. I have listed comparisons of each type of product that is needed to assist you on your bodybuilding journey. You can then gauge which one can fulfill your needs in regards to price, features and/or your current level in this bodybuilding game.

What supplements should I take to build muscle?

Protein Supplements

Which Protein Supplement to Buy?

Protein and carbs are the two nutrients that you will have to refill as you workout and pump your muscles. It’s common knowledge that lifting weights actually makes you lose weight. In order to make them grow you’ll have to shock them AND feed them… with food. Sounds simple, just eat decent meals 5-7 times a day. But we are talking about life in the 21st century here, where time is often not in our favor to eat 5-7 times a day. If you don’t eat, you won’t grow. Simple!

So if you are serious about building muscle in today’s world you better start taking supplements to help refill those nutrients that you lose during your weightlifting workouts. And we begin with protein supplements.

Below are supplements, which I’ve personally tried at some point during the past 10 – 12 years.

I have also been provided discount coupon codes for all Stay-Fit Bug readers on selected items. All you have to do is enter the coupon code on the purchase page before you buy to save you even more money!

RED = Stay-Fit Bug Favorite!

Note:

Please be aware that there are vendors out there that sell ‘fake’ supplements. Because of this, I have made sure that I have affiliated with well known and trusted retailers of the products listed on this page (Bodybuilding.com and Amazon.com), and in which I have managed to obtain discounts in some cases. So if you do find any cheaper prices else where, make sure you question the vendors authenticity and reputation. Paying extra for reassurance, trust and more importantly your health… can go a long way!

Creatine Supplement

Which Creatine Supplement to Buy?

Creatine Monohydrate is the stuff that you can take to reduce muscle fatigue in your workouts. However, many supplements today don’t just contain creatine, they also contain other compounds which in turn, make for great pre-workout supplements as a whole.

Multi-Vitamins

Which Multi-Vitamins to Buy?

Going back to what I mentioned earlier, our bodies need to be fed correctly if we wish to build REAL muscle. This can be done by eating GOOD food 5 – 7 times a day. But to take your muscles to the next level you really do have to supplement them to the next level. Real food is good, but it won’t be enough. Your body will need super doses of amino acids, carbs, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids (EFAs) in order to grow the way that I know you want them to grow, and the multi-vitamins listed below will help you do that, without question!

A note about Vitamin C

We need to take vitamin C because unlike other mammals, we don’t make it naturally. So we need to consume it in the form of our diet. 60mgs was the old school recommended amount to take, but this is 2010 where a demanding lifestyle has hit us all. For most people, the new recommended daily amount is 2 grams per day. So 3 grams per day is about right for us fitness freaks. If you do take too much, your body will let you know (Via the toilet seat!). Either way, vitamin C is a must!

Target muscle groups that you may miss with free weights and machine weights

It’s also what I started out with 10-12 years ago back as a broke student. But when you add any of the products below to your bodyweight workouts, you really can maximize the above points to ensure that bodyweight exercises help you build that body you know you deserve. I’ve used or still use all of these products. Take your pick! They are all great in their own way. If you get lost on how to use these products in your bodyweight workouts, be sure to grab the Stay-Fit Bug Unique Bodyweight Exercises Ebook HERE There are plenty of tips there to assist you on your bodyweight workout journey. Version 2.0 is on its way soon, so make sure you grab it while it’s still at the promotional rate.

Dumbbells and Weights

How to Choose the Right Dumbbells? If you are just starting out, it can be quite confusing on which weights you should buy for your home gym. If so, checkout this post, Vinyl Weights or Cast Iron Weights? Now, although the default weights are,

Vinyl

Cast Iron

Chrome

You may want to upgrade your dumbbells and invest in a pair of Powerblocks or Bowflex dumbbells. Both are good, although I do favor the Powerblocks. Why these dumbbells?

Save space

Easy to transport

Easier to change weight during exercises

There are other bonuses, but those are the stand out ones. You’ll find what you need below, whichever your current needs are.

The Programs

The Books

There are so many books to choose from out there , I need some direction! It has been said that I write good articles (Thank you for those who have praised). But I am no best selling author… yet 🙂 . But there are some great books out there that I have read that will help you on your bodybuilding journey. I’ve read all of these, so take your pick

Before I picked this book up, I did do a lot of searching around as there are a lot of ‘bad’ books out there and this wasn’t a usual recommendation from a friend. The first thing I noticed is that the books format is like a ‘cookbook’ and a ‘manual’ and if you are a single guy/girl or not a good cook like myself… I’d say, get this book! The authors are the main reason I like this book. They go out of their way to give step-by-step guidance on how to actually process the meals outlined properly.

Since starting this site I have talked quite a bit about going from ectomorph to a daddy mammoth. If my advice to you so far hasn’t been enough, then this is a gem you can stash away and retrieve whenever you don’t have an encouraging voice to turn to.

I’m just going to share a biceps routine which I think you can all benefit from today. A routine that I actually performed today. Most of the exercises listed here may be unique to most of you, as they aren’t your everyday bicep exercises. That’s all the better, becasue as you know, change is good for your muscles. Any how, I unleash the pain…

Preacher Hammer Dumbbell Curls

Sets: 3
Reps: 8-12 (Increase the weight after each set)
Rest: 3 minute rest between each set

Spider EZ Bar Curls

Sets: 3
Reps: 8-12 (Increase the weight after each set)
Rest: 3 minutes of rest between each set
Reverse Grip Barbell Curls

Sets: 3
Reps: 8-12 (Increase the weight after each set)
Rest: 3 minutes of rest between each set

Not familiar? Don’t worry, I’ll give you the low down on these is a separate post.

Well, before I tell you how to build perfect calves as a hard gainer, the first thing you need to do is change your mindset. The answer you just gave is the same answer that 90% of hard gainers would give. All of those methods are good, can and will work. But none of them are better or more natural then this method I’m about to show you.

This is one of the most explosive ways that you can build up your calve muscles and a great way to build great functional strength. You also get to hang around outside, taste the lovely outside air, chat to the ladies (or fellas) and show off too (If that’s your kinda thing).

The secret way to build perfect calves as a hard gainer is to start sprinting in your workouts.

How do I know?

First hand experience, that’s how.

Although I’ve always been an all round good performer in all sports that I’ve set my eyes on (Athletics, football/Soccer, Rugby, Cross Country Running), Sprinting (100m-200m) is the last sport that I performed in and took seriously before hanging up my professional sporting boots for good (10-12 years ago).

And one tip I picked up from the 100m-sprint event was the ability to build explosive strength and muscles in your legs. Also known as fast twitch (Building fast twitch muscle fibers).

That is the precise method of how you can build up strong powerful calves. But let me be more… precise.

If you want to build up strong powerful calves, then start practicing very short sprint bursts. Lets say, 60-meter sprints.

Go out on the track at your nearest recreational ground and perform as many short sprints as you can as fast as you can.

Take a short break in between each sprint. The main goal here is…

To perform less reps (sprints) … FAST!

And this is how you cause an explosion… in your legs!

Explosion in your strength gains

Explosion in your muscles

Explosion in the size of your calves

Doing this may leave you with some really skinny looking lower leg muscles around the shin area, but so what! Your legs already look like chicken sticks. Building any kind of muscle on those chicken bones will be a bonus, regardless of how much or how little the mass. Besides, you can fight the chicken leg syndrome effect by building up the muscles surrounding your ankles. Just follow this article for tips on how to do that.

But none of them are more practical than explosive sprint sets. However, as a hard gainer you will want to balance this exercise technique along side your current weightlifting routine, as you don’t want to jeopardize your weight gains.

An ideal workout for a hard gainer would be to include this sprint technique into a workout routine once or maybe twice a week (depending on your current goals).

For a more in-depth explanation, grab this e-book, which I released this week.